


Purple Scales

by vintagemisery49



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, keith is the mermaid, lance is the marine biologist that found him, mermaid au, so like half of the stuff i should have researched is probably wrong, this was written with the little knowledge ive collected while living by the water my entire life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 11:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15629346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagemisery49/pseuds/vintagemisery49
Summary: “Wait, you’re-you’re a mermaid!” Lance cried, this had to be a marine biologists dream, or well, at least ten year old Lance’s dream.“And you’re a human,” the mermaid said, tilting his head at Lance. “Are we just shouting out what each other is?”///Lance finds an injured mermaid and ends up helping heal him back to health and befriending him along the way.





	Purple Scales

The salty sea-air filled Lance’s nose as he unwound his boat from its post on the dock. The sun was just skimming the horizon, lighting the air with rich orange hues. The sea-air ruffled his hair as he got behind the wheel and turned the key into the ignition. His boat sputtered to life and soon he was on his way to start his day.

Ever since he had been a child Lance had known his future would be interwoven with the sea. He had loved the sea from the moment he had seen it, which had honestly been always. He came from a family of fisher-people and had lived in a house by the edge of the sea his entire life. This boat had once been his father’s until he had retired a few years back and left it in Lance’s care.

He had told his son he knew he would take good care of the old boat as his other siblings had chosen to follow career paths away from the water, unlike Lance who had always run straight towards it. The first time he had ever gotten onto his father’s fishing boat (his old one that had sadly been sold for scrap after it had a rough hit with some rocks and stared taking on water, rip Christine), Lance had known instantly that he had wanted to be a fisherman just like his father one day.

However that dream changed slightly upon realizing that there were other careers where he could be on the water other than as a fisherman, and while in middle school he came across the marine biologist career and instantly fell in love with the idea of studying sea creature. 

Lance had graduated a little over a year ago and had been living his life since than as a marine biologist for the local environmental agency that was actually run by a friend of his. He was in charge of studying the wildlife of their port and the nearby areas, checking their health and behavior, and so far it had been his dream job.

Today he was scheduled for checking in on a nearby cove that he hadn’t visited in a while despite the fact that it was hands down the most interesting ecosystem in the area he researched. However, his boss preferred him focusing most of his attention on the bay area so he wasn’t able to go check out different areas that often, but there had been an outbreak of a strain of algae that was particularly nasty so he had been tasked with checking all the surrounding areas to see if there was any sign of it so it could be contained.

He slowed the boat up as he came up to the cove, going slowly through the small opening of the rocks that surrounded the area. He brought the boat to a stop not too far from the opening and took note that the small beach was almost completely covered by water. Once he was sure his boat wouldn’t float away, Lance grabbed his bag and jumped out of the boat and into the knee deep water. The shallow depth of the cove also made it one of his favorite places to study since it allowed him to actually get up close with some of the organisms and the flora.

Lance was studying some of the aquatic grass when he noticed it, the shimmering of scales; he caught a quick glimpse of them before they disappeared. He couldn’t be sure but he swore they had looked almost purple, but he couldn’t think of any fish species in the area that would have scales that had looked so vibrantly purple. 

Shrugging his shoulders Lance turned back to his grasses, happy to see that all of the aquatic plants he had checked so far showed no signs of the algae.

He was reaching into his bag to pull out his drag net to catch some of the fish for inspection when suddenly two wet arms encircled around his waist and he was pushed into the water face first.

He managed to pull his head above the water, gasping and sputtering out the water that had filled his mouth as he tried to gain his surroundings. He barely had anytime to even try and piece together what had happened when he heard a voice.

“What are you doing here?”

Well, at least Lance knew the voice that belonged to whoever was currently clutching his by the waist.

“Um, my job,” Lance said as he struggled to turn himself around and face his attacker. Damn they had a strong grip.

“What do you mean your job?”

Lance held back a sigh, he had no idea who this person was but he sure didn’t want to piss them off. “My job of studying marine ecosystems, you know fish and aquatic plants and stuff.”

“Oh.”

“Listen buddy, I don’t know who you are but could you maybe let go of me so I could get back to my job,” Lance said, he also really wanted to ask this person what the hell their problem was tackling someone into the water and then demanding what they were doing there. Lance knew for a fact this cove wasn’t any sort of private property.

The arms around his middle finally let go, letting Lance sit up and turn around to face his attacker, and okay Lance will admit that the minute he saw the cute face staring back at him he kinda felt most of his anger evaporate. The guy’s eyes were the most unusual but beautiful color he had seen, a deep purple, and the way his dark black hair fell and framed their face was just, well, Lance couldn’t put it into words other than hot. But there was something on the sides of his head that were being covered by his hair that Lance couldn’t quite make out.

“So um, can I ask you what you’re doing here, and why you attacked me?” Lance asked, doing his best not to be distracted by a cute face considering that cute face had tackled him into the water seconds earlier.

“I, uh, kinda live here,” he said with a shrug as he seemed to avoid Lance’s eye. “I only attacked you since a human hasn’t ever gotten this close to my home before, I mean, you’d attack someone if they just showed up at your house.”

“Ummm, you live in the cove?” Lance asked, still not fully registering the fact he had been referred to as a human. “There isn’t exactly much dry land.”

“Well I don’t want dry land so this is perfect for me,” he said and it was only then when Lance realized that in the place of legs this guy had a tail, though Lance now realized why he had seen purple scales earlier. 

“Wait, you’re-you’re a mermaid!” Lance cried, this had to be a marine biologists dream, or well, at least ten year old Lance’s dream.

“And you’re a human,” the mermaid said, tilting his head at Lance. “Are we just shouting out what each other is?”

“No, I’m-I’m just surprised,” Lance said as he tried to get a better look at the mermaid’s tail, he had it curled underneath him tight enough that Lance could only see part of the bottom half of the tail. His tail fin looked like one right out of a story book, a deep purple shade that matched the scales that connected to them. “It’s not like I’ve ever seen a mermaid before.”

“Well normally we stay away from shore so you don’t see us,” the mermaid said.

“So why are you so close to shore than?” Lance asked, he was wondering if he could get away with potentially researching the mermaid, would he even be able to publish his findings without becoming a laughingstock, not to mention the potential issues that would arise if someone would wanted to put one on display considering it behaved the same way as a human-

“I’m, uh, kinda sick,” the mermaid said, cutting off Lance’s train of thought. “I needed a safe place to get better and this seemed far enough away from prying human eyes.”

“I can take a look if you want,” Lance said, the offer slipping out before he could really think it through. “I’m able to take care of fish and such so you shouldn’t be too much different, unless you got a cold or something than I won’t be any help.”

The mermaid seemed to scrutinize him up and down before letting out a sigh and unfurling his tail from underneath him, allowing Lance to finally see the tail in all its glory, and man was it beautiful. Eventually the purple scales gave way to red scales closer towards were the tail merged with the upper body. Other longer and thin decorative fins hung off the side of the tail, varying between red and purple depending on where they were on the tail.

“Something’s wrong with my tail,” the mermaid said as Lance leaned down to get a look at it. “It’s been in pain for the past few days, I only stopped by this area to meet up with someone and when I was going to leave this started up.” The mermaid gestured down at his tail angrily as Lance brought a portion of it up from the water.

“Mmm-hmm,” Lance said as he ran a hand over a splotch of red algae towards the underside of the tail. “It seems you’ve been infected with a strain of algae that’s been going around through the area.”

“What?” the mermaid cried as Lance dropped his tail back into the water.

“Thankfully I have everything you should need to make you feel better, hopefully, I mean, I have all the stuff I would need for a fish but you’re half-fish half-human so I’m not sure it will work but-“

“Anything would be great please,” the mermaid said, cutting off Lance’s rambling.

Lance nodded before holding up a hand, “Wait one second, I’m going to go back to my boat and get everything I’ll need, if you could get into shallow water that would be great.”

The mermaid nodded his head before Lance turned around and headed to his boat, he knows he should be freaking out more over this, but currently he was so in shock he knew he wouldn’t be freaking out about this until he got home that night.

Lance made his way over to where the mermaid now was, thankfully in shallow water like Lance had asked.

“Okay so first I’m going to wash off your tail,” Lance said as he did just that, figuring it might calm the mermaid down if he knew what Lance was doing.

“I’ve already tried that.”

“Well you need to do more than just clean it off, there’s bacteria in this as well plus you haven’t been washing it hard enough if it keeps coming back,” Lance said as he scrubbed at the patches of algae, feeling kinda bad whenever the mermaid flinched or gritted his teeth, it certainly wasn’t like helping a fish who didn’t make faces.

“Now I have some medicated ointment I’m going to rub onto your tail, since I’m not one hundred percent sure if your tail is like a fish I’m going to wrap the area as well,” Lance said as he rubbed the ointment into the tail, the scales felt just like those of a fish.

“Wrap it?” the mermaid asked.

“Yep, I’ll be coming back to check on you obviously,” Lance said, suddenly realizing by doing this he was pretty much committing himself to visiting this mermaid for at least a week to make sure the algae cleared up. But this also gave him the perfect reason to keep coming back to study the mermaid. He finished up wrapping the mermaid’s tail before turning to him and saying, “The name’s Lance, nice to meet you.”

The mermaid stared at him for a few seconds before answering, “Keith, my name’s Keith”

/////

Lance went back to the cove the next day after telling his boss he had noticed that some of the algae had infected the area (which technically was kinda true) and checked out Keith’s tail.

“So,” Lance began as he unwrapped the bandages around Keith’s tail, “What’s it like being a mermaid?”

“Probably just like being a human,” Keith answered, “Just, underwater.”

“So you have your underwater job, and your underwater car and your underwater house,” Lance added, counting off his fingers with each one.

Keith laughed at that, and damn was his laugh something Lance wanted to hear again.

“Pretty much, when you live in a pod or a community you get a job, like hunting or protecting to name some,” Keith said as Lance washed his tail again. “We don’t have what you humans call cars; we’re able to get along fine to where we need to go with just our tail.”

“So you have a pod than?” Lance asked as he pulled out more of the ointment. “Surely they must be worried about you.”

Keith went quiet for a second. “I don’t exactly have a pod; I’m, uh kinda on my own, except not really, I mean I was here visiting a friend but uh, I travel alone I guess.”

Lance stared at Keith for a few seconds. “That’s kinda sad.”

“I don’t want your pity,” Keith said with a huff as he crossed his arms. “I was just answering your question.”

“Okay, okay,” Lance said as he began to wound bandages back over Keith’s tail. “I can’t imagine living alone, my entire life I’ve been surrounded by family. I have five older siblings and you’d think once they moved out it would quiet down right? Well nope, not too long after Veronica moved out my abuelita moved in and then suddenly my older siblings were having kids. I don’t think I’ve ever lived anywhere where it’s quiet.” 

“It’s pretty quiet in here,” Keith said as he looked down at Lance’s finished handiwork and moved his tail around a bit making the sun reflect off his scales. “Thanks again for doing this.”

“Hey, it’s no problem,” Lance said as he waved his hand at him. “It’s not every day I get to talk to a mermaid.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at this before flopping back down into the water. “It’s not like I have anything interesting to say.”

Lance laughed at that. “Dude I don’t know if you noticed but it’s already pretty interesting that you’re a mermaid. You could probably tell me about currents or what’s your favorite kind of fish and I would find it interesting.”

“Seriously?” Keith said, lifting his head slightly up from the water as he watched Lance walk back to his boat to throw his bag back in.

“Uh yeah, I kinda want to know everything about mermaids that I can,” Lance said as he pulled out an old tape recorder he had found buried in his closet the night before. “Only if you want to tell me of course.”

“Well I have no way of repaying you for helping me out, answering questions about myself is a pretty easy payment,” Keith said as Lance made his way back over and sat back down in the shallow water.

“Okay than,” Lance said as he turned on the recorder. “Would you mind telling me about your favorite fish than?”

Keith laughed before he gave his answer. “Tuna, although I haven’t been able to catch it in a while, especially since I’m stuck in this cove.”

“So what have you been eating since you’ve been stuck in here?” Lance asked, it felt kind of awkward holding the recorder in his hand; he’d have to find something to bring tomorrow to hold it for him.

“The little fish that swim through here mostly, but I’ve also ate some of the kelp,” Keith said.

“How do you catch the fish, specifically the bigger ones, like tuna?” Lance asked.

Keith gave him a weird look. “You seem to really want to know about my eating habits.”

“Hey, I’m planning on writing a paper about the habits of mermaids, you’re eating patterns are very important,” Lance said with a huff as Keith laughed.

“I don’t know how to tell you this but I don’t think anyone is going to believe you,” Keith said as he shook his head with a smile.

“Wait, so you wouldn’t care if I published a paper on mermaids?” Lance asked, surprised that Keith wasn’t threatening to drown him if he told anyone of the existence of mermaids.

“Humans have been trying to prove we’re real for years, you aren’t the first one to know, and you’ll probably get the same response they all got,” Keith said as he moved his tail around in the water.

“Which was?”

“They all got laughed it,” Keith said, looking up at him like Lance should have expected the answer, and honestly yeah he probably should have.

“Well I still want to know everything about you,” Lance said, “So, could you answer my question?”

Keith shot him one last perplexed look before answering the question. “Well I have claws,” Keith brought one hand out of the water and suddenly long purple claws grew from his fingers, “And I have fangs,” yeah Lance had noticed that, “So I’m able to catch any fish if I try hard enough,” Keith finished before flashing Lance a fanged grin and dropped his hand back in the water.

“Noted,” Lance said, “You could probably tear me to shreds if you wanted.”

“I have no plans to if that makes you feel any better,” Keith said with a chuckle before tilting his head slightly to the side. “You’re not bad for a human.”

“Well you’re not too bad for a fish,” Lance said, and seconds later he was soaking wet from Keith splashing him with his tail. “Okay I deserved that.”

Keith laughed at Lances face as he looked down at his soaking wet shirt. 

“Haha,” Lance said as he shook his head and sent droplets of water off of him. “Well I still have more questions.”

“Well ask them, I’m not going anywhere,” Keith said.

“Okay so I gotta ask, how exactly do mermaids breathe? Like is it gills or lungs or both?”

“Well it’s more a combination of both.”

/////

“Okay so, are mermaids different based on where they’re from?” Lance asked. He had attached the recorder to his shirt considering that apparently a little water didn’t affect it and was now finding that maybe he should have just kept in his hand so it had something to do other than sit in the water or on his lap.

“Yeah actually, ones that are born in colder waters have blubber so their tails are shaped differently than mine, I’ve seen one before and they’re pretty interesting, their tails reminded of a seals I’ve seen before, and their really monotone in color. I was born in the warmer waters in the gulf so my tail’s kind of colorful and looks more like a fish,” Keith said as he lifted his tail out of the water. “Plus I have these ear fins while the mermaid I met from the north didn’t have them.”

“Mmm, interesting, okay so speaking of ears, do you have any?”

“Well yeah but they don’t stick out the side of our heads like yours do.”

/////

“How do you communicate to other mermaids while underwater? Surely you can’t open your mouth and speak?”

“Well mermaids don’t really communicate through speech, we mainly communicate through clicking noises, like dolphins,” Keith explained, his tail had been looking better so he was swimming around in the deeper water to build his strength back up after barely using his tail for days.

“So how do you know how to speak so well?” Lance asked, he was sitting off the side of the boat with his feet in the water, he had noticed that he had been spending a large amount of his day with Keith over the past few days, asking him any question he could think of, whether it was about mermaids or if it was just something about Keith.

At this question however Keith went quiet for a few seconds longer than usual, Lance was about to just ask him another question to change the topic when Keith gave his answer.

“I’ve lived near towns my entire life so I picked it up,” Keith said, although he didn’t sound confident in his own answer but Lance didn’t want to press.

“So this is the most important question yet, do you have a favorite color?”

/////

“I think you’ve run out of questions to ask me,” Keith said on the last day while Lance was taking off his bandages and checking his tail over.

“You’re right about that,” Lance said with a laugh before patting Keith’s tail and putting it back in the water. “Your tail’s all better now, you might not want to immediately start swimming off into the middle of the ocean but you should be back to your usual self within the next two days.”

“Will you still come and visit me?” Keith asked suddenly, throwing Lance through a loop.

“Huh, I mean, yeah sure but you’re going to leave in a few days right?” Lance asked, not really knowing why the fact that Keith wanted him to keep visiting was affecting him like this.

“Well,” Keith said as he looked over to the side for a split second before back at Lance, “I don’t have any pod to get back to so I’m free to stay where I want, and I uh, I really like this place, plenty of food that just swims to me, plus, it’s kinda nice to have someone that will talk to me.”

“Oh, well, yeah I’ll definitely come and visit you every day until you get tired of me,” Lance said with a wide smile, he didn’t realize how much he had been enjoying Keith’s company over the past few days and was only now just realizing it, he was kind of surprised how quickly he had grown attached to the mermaid.

“Well I think it’s my turn to ask some questions than,” Keith said with a smirk as he sat back on his arms, his tail moving around slowly in the water. “Tell me more about your job, you haven’t told me anything more than what you did on the first day we met.”

“Okay so pretty much I study fish-“

“You study fish? They’re not very fascinating I tired talking to one once and they talk about the most boring things.”

“Well I can’t talk to fish so I have to watch them to learn about their patterns and how they live, plus I don’t only study fish, I study any aquatic animals although I mainly study the ones that live around here and make sure they’re all healthy and stuff-“

“So as the only mermaid in the area I obviously am the most important, right?”

“You’re starting to get a bit of a big head aren’t you?”

“I mean, you did spend a good twenty minutes one time gushing about how cool it is you get to talk to a mermaid.”

“Touché.”

/////

“Keith,” Lance singsonged as he pulled into the cove, he had started coming to visit Keith every day after finishing his rounds for work and had started spending two hours or more with the mermaid every day. His family was probably thinking he was becoming a bit obsessed with his job since that was the excuse he used when he visited Keith on the weekend. “I have a present for you.”

“A present?” Keith said as his head popped up from the water.

“Yep,” Lance said as he pulled out a cooler and opened it up. “Tuna,” he said as he held up a fish about as long as his arm.

“Seriously?!” Keith said, perking up as he swam closer to the boat.

“Yep,” Lance said as he threw the fish to Keith who held it with wide eyes. “When I got back to the dock yesterday I ran into a fisherman I knew and he ended up giving it to me since it had been from the previous day and still hadn’t sold. I figured you’d enjoy the fish.” Lance did have to give over some money for it but thankfully since it had been a close friend from school he had gotten it at a very discounted price, and besides, the look on Keith’s face made it all worth it.

“So I can eat it then?” Keith said as he looked up at Lance.

“Uh duh dude, that’s why I got it for you,” Lance said and the second he had finished talking Keith tore into the fish, and Lance was glad he had fed the sharks at the aquarium he had once worked at for the summer or else he might’ve been a bit grossed out watching Keith eat the fish whole.

“Thanks,” Keith said once he had finished eating the fish. “I’ve been getting tired of eating the same fish.”

“No problem dude,” Lance said before hopping off the boat and heading towards the small patch of sand where he sat himself down. “I remembered that they were your favorite and figured you haven’t been eating them unless you went out farther into the ocean-“ Lance was beginning to ramble but thankfully Keith cut in before he could keep talking and probably embarrassing himself.

“So last time you were here you said you would tell me more about your family,” Keith said, genuinely looking like he wanted to hear Lance talk about his family.

“It could take me all day to tell you everything about them,” Lance began as he tried to think of some good stories to tell Keith before he spoke up and had to go and say, well, that.

“So, I’m not going anywhere, I want to know what it’s like having a large family.”

Lance sputtered for half a second before deciding where to start. “Okay so apparently the day my parents brought me home from the hospital I was crying a bunch and Veronica asked if they could return me.”

/////

It was a breezy day, giving Lance a little harder of a time untying the boat to head out and visit Keith. It had been a whole month since he had met Keith and honestly, it had been one of the best times of Lance’s life, it’s not every day you meet a mermaid that likes to listen to you talk about almost anything, plus in return he got to learn about what it was like being a mermaid, although Keith mainly talked about his life in the gulf, which was surprisingly uneventful.

He had just been untying the final knot when he heard a pair of footsteps coming up from behind him on the dock. Turning around he saw Hunk, his best friend since like kindergarten, standing behind him with his arms crossed.

“Hey bud, how’s it going?” Lance asked as he unwound the rope from the pillar.

“Oh you know, kinda lonely ever since my best friend decided to abandon me with no explanation,” Hunk said, and oh shit he didn’t sound happy. Lance knew he had been forgetting something, and apparently that had been giving Hunk a good excuse for why he had been missing out on their weekly hangout sessions.

“I’m so sorry Hunk,” Lance said as he stood up, keeping a tight grip on the rope, “I’ve just had to start putting in some extra hours for work because of this algae outbreak-“

“I talked to Allura about that since I asked your parents before I found you and they told me that same excuse. Allura asked her uncle and he said that the algae apparently cleared up over two weeks ago, I didn’t tell your parents, though I should,” Hunk said and oh crap he was angry.

“I’m sorry Hunk it’s just-just,” Lance said as he tried to think of a new excuse on the spot only to be cut off by Hunk.

“Lance don’t even bother with any lies, I know you too well. Tell me the truth, what’s been going on, you haven’t acted like this since-oh my god, do you like someone?!” Hunk said pointing a finger at him with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you’ve been ditching me to make goo goo eyes at someone!”

“I-I don’t like anyone,” Lance said as he gripped the rope to his chest. “As you can see I’m going out on my boat, who would I find while on a boat?”

“A girl who’s on a boat as well,” Hunk said with a shrug, “Or you’re going to meet them in some secret cove or something.”

Crap, that sounded a little too close to what he was doing, except he wasn’t going to a lovey dovey meet-up with Keith, yeah he had spent time every day with Keith for a whole month and yeah he really enjoyed talking to Keith but-no this was not the time to think about this.

“I’m not meeting up with a girl in a secret cove,” Lance said with a huff as he hopped into his boat.

“A boy than,” Hunk said and Lance about choked on the air.

“No,” he wheezed before turning around to face Hunk before he could make a comment about that whole thing and asked him, “And what do you mean I’m acting just like last time?”

“The last time you acted like this was back in college when you started dating Plaxum, you spent like every waking moment with her for like the first month you guys were together and missed out on our movie nights,” Hunk said. “So I highly doubt that this is just you going out in your boat.”

“Well it is,” Lance said as he held his head up high, “I’m just going out and doing research on my own for a new paper.” Technically it was kind of the truth, although he spent most of the time now just talking to Keith about what one of his nieces or nephews had done or something that had happened while he had been working.

“Oh is that so, than you wouldn’t mind if I came with you,” Hunk said as he began to climb into the boat.

“What, no you can’t come with me,” Lance said as he tried to push Hunk back up onto the dock however sorely miscalculating how much stronger Hunk was than him. He just couldn’t let Hunk meet Keith without, like, talking to Keith first.

“So you are meeting up with someone,” Hunk said as he crossed his arms like he had made your point.

“Ugh, okay fine I am,” Lance said, giving up so Hunk would leave him alone. “So can you get off the boat so I can go see them?”

“Only if you tell me all about them when you get back,” Hunk said with a large smile on his face. “It’s been so long since you’ve dated anyone, can you imagine, you could have double dates with Shay and me.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay buddy,” Lance said as he let out a loud sigh. It looks like he’d have to talk to Keith about telling someone else about him.

/////

“Hey so uh, I was thinking about maybe telling one of my friends about you, if that’s okay with you?”

“Oh sure, it’s no big deal, it’s not like have to worry about you telling someone who would come after me.”

“Okay cool.”

“Anyway so I tried to help Shiro learn how to break open an oyster after he lost his arm and apparently the guy had never even tried to open one ever before the accident.“

///// 

“Wait, you’re dating a mermaid?!” Hunk shouted before Lance slapped his hand over Hunk’s mouth.

“Could you shout it louder so the whole town can hear?” Lance hissed before looking over the pier to make sure there were no bystanders before taking his hand off Hunk’s mouth. “And I’m not dating him; you were the one who assumed I was dating someone.”

“Okay than you have a crush on a mermaid,” Hunk said with a shrug. “Can’t say I never would have seen this coming, you are super into your work.”

“Is this your way of saying you think I would get together with a fish?”

“I’m just saying I always figured you’d get with someone based on your job, and now look, you met a mermaid in distress-or does he prefer merman-but you fixed his tail and now he’s sticking around despite the fact his tail is all healed up because he likes your company so much,” Hunk said before staring hard at Lance. “Oh my god you do like the half-fish man don’t you?”

“Hunk please,” Lance said with a groan as he sat down on the edge of the pier, “I’m telling you the reason I’ve been skipping out is because I found a mermaid, and considering I’m a flipping marine biologist why wouldn’t I be incredibly interested in learning about mermaids.”

“Yeah but like, you’ve known him for a month right, and you seem to go see him every day so in theory you should know a lot about mermaids,” Hunk said but after realizing Lance wasn’t going to take the bait he decided to change the subject. “So, what do you know about him?”

“Oh well Keith really likes tuna, whenever I get some for him he gets super happy, and he collect shells, he showed me his collection the other day and even gave me this conch shell in perfect condition,” Lance pointed out the shell sitting on the dash of his boat before going back to spewing facts about Keith while Hunk watched on with a knowing look on his face. “His favorite color is the ocean when it’s storming and the other day I brought a radio and he seemed to really like pop station, although he seemed to really like how as he called it, a box was able to make so many different noises. I left it with him and almost every time I visit him it’s playing, I guess I’m going to need to get him so batteries soon and-wait, what’s with you face?”

Hunk realized he had been caught. “Oh nothing, just, uh, really touched by your story.”

/////

“So, where are you taking me?” Lance asked over the noise of the boat and the crashing of the waves. When he had arrived at Keith’s cove, Lance had barely said hello when the mermaid had told him to follow him before swimming out the cove, looking once over his shoulder at Lance and moving his head in a follow me motion. And of course Lance had followed.

A garbled “You’ll see” was all Lance heard. He kept following Keith’s dark figure under the water until the came to a large outcropping surrounded by rocks poking out the water. Lance brought his boat to a stop before they could hit the rocks and dropped anchor as Keith’s head popped out the water.

“Did you bring me here to try and maroon me?” Lance joked. He heard Keith snicker.

Lance looked up at the mermaid as he waited for his explanation.

“This is, well, it’s my place where I come to think,” Keith said before holding his hand out to Lance. “Will you come sit with me?”

Lance was not one to say no to this man so he took the outstretched hand after kicking off his shoes and jumped into the cold water with his clothes on.  
Keith swum them over to one of the rocks and pulled himself up on it as Lance climbed up after him. Only the fins at the bottom of his tail were still in the water.

“Did we come here to think?” Lance asked as he watched Keith stare down into the dark water.

“Yes and no,” Keith said before looking up at Lance, something in his eyes that Lance had never seen before.

“Is everything alright Keith?” Lance asked, placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“No,” Keith said honestly as he placed a hand lightly over Lance’s. “I’m afraid I’ve lied to you a bit about myself and-and I need to tell you the truth.”

“Dude, you’re being a bit too cryptic and it’s kinda scaring me,” Lance said, confusion knitting his brow as he stared down at Keith chewing in his lip.

“Lance, I lied when I told you how I knew your language so well.”

“This is about that? Keith, dude, the minute you told me I knew it was a lie.”

“Than-than why didn’t you tell me?” Keith squawked. If this was all this was about than Lance felt like he could let out a sigh of relief.

“It was obviously not something you wanted to talk about so I didn’t push,” Lance said.

“You make this too hard,” Keith whispered, barely loud enough for Lance to hear, but he did, and it sent his heart into flips for some reason.

“What do you mean by-“

“Lance I have to leave, I’m sorry,” Keith said, softly, like he was scared to say it out loud, like if he said it his whole world would crack and turn upside, and for Lance that’s what it was beginning to feel like.

“What, why? You said it yourself you have everything you need here and-“ Lance beginning, feeling all kinds of emotions bubbling up in his chest. He didn’t know why he was feeling so…betrayed, hurt by the fact Keith was leaving. Keith didn’t owe him anything, so why did it hurt so bad that he wanted to leave.

“Lance,” Keith said, cutting off Lance’s tirade before it could begin, “Like I said, I haven’t been one hundred percent truthful about who I am.”

“Well you can tell me, I don’t care if you’re some man eating sea monster or what, you’re-you’re my friend Keith I don’t want you to-“ Lance said, desperate to try and get Keith to stay. For the past month and a half his life had become so much more exciting with Keith by his side, he didn’t want to lose that.

“Lance I’m only half mermaid,” Keith said, turning to look Lance in the eye. “The other half is human, that’s why I know your language so well.”

Lance was shocked for only second before he was back to talking. “I don’t see why you have to leave because of that!”

“Lance, I’ve never know how to control my human side,” Keith said. “I’ve always been a mermaid, but-but I have a reason now to want to be able to turn into a human as well. So I have to find my mother, she’s the only one who would know how I could change my form.”

“Keith,” Lance said in a hushed voice. He knew there was no way he could stop Keith from leaving over this.

“Lance, I want to be able to be a human so I can live on land with you,” Keith said, gripping Lance’s hand in his. “I want to meet your family and your friends and I want to finally be able to find the home I could never truly find as a mermaid. I want the choice to decide if I want to live on the land or sea. I want-“ Keith paused for a second and Lance noticed the tears welling in his eyes.

“Keith,” Lance said as he cupped his face and wiped away a trickling tear. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

“What?” Keith said, his voice wobbling.

“In case you forgot I have a boat right over there,” Lance said as he gently pushed Keith’s face so it was looking at his boat. “I could go with you.”

“But your family-“

“I’m twenty four,” Lance said with a little laugh. “I don’t live with them anymore so it’ll just be like I’m away at college again. They’ll miss me but I’ll be back.”

“Well you have a job-“

“Coran’s a big softy, plus I can just tell him I’m going on an exploration to study the habits of sea creatures and get paid for going on this adventure with you,” Lance said. “You don’t have to go alone Keith.”

Keith stared up at Lance for a second before reaching up and wrapping his arms around him in a crushing hug. “Thank you.”

“No problem buddy,” Lance said as he rubbed Keith’s back. “Anything for you.”

/////

They left the following day before the sun even rose into the sky.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Lance asked after finishing his lest check that he had enough of everything for a potentially ocean wide search for a single mermaid.

“My dad always said that she hadn’t been from the area,” Keith said as he watched Lance get the boat ready. “I remember once he showed me a postcard of a place with palm trees from her.”

“Your moms a mermaid right?”

“Yep.”

“Then how did she-“

“My mom is one of the few kinds of mermaids that are able to walk on land; I believe you would call them a syren, but only for short periods of time. But that should be enough for me to learn how to fully change my form into a human,” Keith said.

“Well palm trees and not from around here huh?” Lance said as he tapped his chin. “I guess that takes the entire gulf area off our checklist.”

“I remember that the card had the letter c on it real big,” Keith offered.

“California is going to be our first shot,” Lance said. “You better set in for a long swim Keith.”

//////

Their first stop had been a small costal town in Mexico, while they had tried to stay away from the coast Lance had begun to worry that he didn’t have enough back-up gas to make it the rest of the way to the canal. However the canal was its own problem all by itself.

“I can go find some fish for us while you get the gas,” Keith said, he was resting his arms on the side of the boat by Lance’s legs.

“That’d be nice,” Lance said as he swirled his foot around in the water. Keith apparently wasn’t going to leave Lance until he found out what was going on.

“What’cha thinking about?” Keith asked, tilting his head because he knew Lance found it endearing.

Lance let out a sigh. He’d have to tell him eventually. “The fastest way for us to get to California is through the Panama Canal, however it’s a heavily trafficked area so I don’t think we’re going to be able to pass through considering your well, a mermaid. Someone would notice you.”

“Well,” Keith said, seeming to be in deep through as his tail swished above the water. “I suppose I could get in the boat.”

Lance stared at Keith for a second. “Keith, dude, I don’t know if you forgot but you can’t really be out of the water that long.”

“Well I’ve always been able to stay out of the water longer than Shiro,” Keith said. “So if we were able to, I don’t know, get a big bucket or something to put some water in I should be fine, and no one would see me.”

Lance stared at Keith hard for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “I’ll go into town and try and find gas and a container for you.”

“Okay, I’ll go get the fish,” Keith said, patting him on the thigh before darting under the water.

Lance stared at the water for a bit before saying. “I’m about to go buy a kiddie pool for a mermaid, am I in some comedy movie or something?”

/////

The canal ended up being a bust when Lance found out how much it cost to enter, not to mention the fact that someone would come on board and captain the boat across. So it looked like they would be traveling around the entirety of South America.

“It could be worse,” Keith said, laying in the makeshift kiddie pool Lance had bought for frighteningly cheap. Despite the fact they didn’t really have a use for it, it did give Keith a break from swimming around which meant they could travel over longer distance going full speed in the boat, which meant they’d be stopping for a refill quicker than Lance expected. 

“I mean, you’re right,” Lance said as kept the boat on course. “But I’m also not the one lounging.”

Lance could practically hear Keith shrug. “You try swimming for hours on end, it’s a lot of cardio.”

Lance laughed before shaking his head. “Well don’t expect any fruity drinks with umbrellas for me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand your human joke.”

“Now is not the time to pretend you don’t get human cues Keith, I know your secret!”

“I should’ve never told you that, now I can’t act dumb anymore.”

/////

“The stars are beautiful out here,” Lance whispered as he stared at the stars in awe. They decorated the entire night sky for as far as he could see, it was the brightest he had ever seen them.

“Well there’s no humans around to muck them up,” Keith said from below in the water. “We’re far away from humans so naturally everything is a little prettier.”

“Really?” Lance asked as he looked down at Keith and moved some of his wet hair away from his face. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Keith said with a grin as he pushed himself up a little closer to Lance.

“Don’t start getting a big head on me,” Lance said with a chuckle as he looked down at Keith.

“I wasn’t finished yet,” Keith said with a little pout before cupping Lance’s face. “Of course I am, because you’ve never looked prettier.”

Lance felt his face heat up and he almost botched it. “Are you implying I look ugly the rest of the time?”

“No,” Keith said, now he was whispering. “You always look cute, but under these stars you look ethereal.”

Lance laughed, Keith’s lips were almost touching his. “How do you even know that word?”

“I heard it on the radio,” Keith said, and apparently he had grown tired of their little game and crossed the last little bit of distance between them to press his lips to Lance’s in a soft kiss. It lasted only a few seconds and was only their lips being pressed against each other, but it was enough to send Lance’s head spinning.

As they parted Lance could feel the wide grin cross his face as he looked down at Keith, cupping his cheek. Keith smiled up at him before leaning up again and kissing Lance’s smile beneath the bright stars.

/////

They had finally reached the coast of California at night and had decided to camp out until morning came and it would be easier to search for Keith’s mom.

“Are you ready?” Lance asked as he finished inspecting his boat, making sure he didn’t have to make any stops to get anything checked out.

“No, no really,” Keith said as he stared out at the expanse of coastline before them. “But I’m going to anyway.”

“You can do this Keith,” Lance said, tightening one last rope before looking over at Keith. “I’ll be right behind you the entire time.”

“I know,” Keith said in a hushed whisper before diving under the dark water.

/////

They were a week into searching when they found her, Krolia to be exact. She had barely any hesitation introducing herself to Lance after Keith had brought her back to the boat. It had been awkward to say the least. Keith had barely remembered his mother before they went on this trek to find her, but now that she was in front of him it seemed that he wanted to be anywhere but there.

“So what made you come on this search to find me, and with a human no less,” Krolia questioned after a tense bout of silence.

“I want to learn how to change between human and mermaid at will,” Keith said, staring her down, looking like he was doing his best not to flinch. The whole confrontation between the two must have happened when Keith first found her, Lance was sure he would hear about it later. But for now he was beginning to think he should find some way to slip away from this.

/////

Lance slipped away seconds after Keith had asked the fateful question and didn’t come back out from his boat’s tiny cabin until he heard Keith knocking on the side of the boat.

“So, how’d it go?” Lance asked as he sat down on the edge of the boat by Keith.

“Well starting tomorrow morning I’m going to be training with her until I’m able to change between forms.”

Lance nodded but took note of Keith’s stiff shoulders and the steely glare he was sending out into the ocean. Placing a hand on his shoulder he asked, “You wanna talk about something?”

Keith was silent for a second. “Can-can you talk about what you’re going to do while I train with my mom?”

“Of course,” Lance said, not taking his hand form Keith’s shoulder. “I’m thinking seals, mainly because their cute and also because people just eat up anything about them-“

/////

“You ready to get out of the water and finally go to shore?” Lance asked. They were by the cove where they had met for the first time. The boat bobbing leisurely as Keith took one last lap for nostalgia's sake. The sun had only just risen beyond the horizons and Lance was hopping to visit his parents before their day started, he had missed them more than he had expected.

“Yep,” Keith said as he surfaced from the water and climbed onto the boat, his tail quickly replaced by a pair of legs. His change seemed effortless now compared to when he first started. “Ready to finally meet all these people you’ve been telling me about.”

“My family you mean?”

“And your friends,” Keith said as he squeezed excess water out of his hair before shaking his head. “The one, I think it was Hunk right, who you told about me.”

“Well he’s definitely going to be surprised to see you with legs,” Lance said as he threw an arm around Keith and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Probably about as surprised as Shiro was,” Keith joked as he sat down and waited for Lance to take them to the dock. They had run into Shiro on their way back and ended up spending a few days visiting him. The other mermaid had been surprisingly, well, nice to Lance when Keith had introduced to them considering Lance maybe exchanged four words with Krolia the entire two weeks they were in California.

They pulled into the docks a few minutes later and tied up the boat before standing on the edge of the dock watching all the hustle and bustle that had already started.  
“You ready?” Lance asked again, it felt like he had been asking that question a lot recently.

“You know it,” Keith said as he slipped his hand into Lance’s and sent him a smile.

Lance smiled back at him before squeezing his hand and facing forward again as the two of them took their first steps forward.


End file.
